Pickett's Charge

The Civil War began at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina on April 12, 1861, due to rising tensions between the Union [Northern states] and the Confederacy [Southern states]. There were many disagreements on how the Union carried out their laws and taxes. The Confederates wanted to secede from the Union because they felt like they would be better off without control from the Union. One of the main issues were the opinions on slavery. The North wanted to begin expanding westward and not…

Custer graduated 35th of 35 students from West Point in 1861. “After joining the Army of the Potomac’s cavalry following his graduation, he gained notice for his daring cavalry charges, bold leadership style and tactical brilliance. In June 1863, Custer was promoted to the rank of brigadier general at the age of 23, and he cemented his reputation as the “Boy General” days later at the Battle of Gettysburg when he repelled a pivotal…

General Lee desperately tried to overwhelm the Union. However, the Union defenses held and decimated the Confederate assaults. One example of the futility of General Lee’s attempt to overrun the Union defenses was Pickett’s Charge. With the Confederates presented a magnificent spectacle, flags waving in the bright sun and soldiers on line as if on parade. Pressing on through a hail of fire and with the Rebel yell ringing above the din of battle the Confederate army struck…

the north was preparing to sign an armistice to end the bloodshed. With such a great victory, the Union forces felt renewed spirits and were ready to fight. Along with that, the south could not bring itself to recover from the embarrassment of Pickett's Charge and the demoralizing defeat overall. This led to the placement of battles to switch back once…

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg was in Southern Pennsylvania, and was the turning point of the Civil War. It was a three day battle that lasted from July 1st to July 3, 1863. It is the most well known battle of the Civil war, due to the amount of casualties, its large size and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. General George G. Meade led 90,000 Union soldiers to a defeat over General Robert E. Lee’s 75,000 Confederate soldiers. In May of 1863 Lee took his forces and defeated…

The war of Gettysburg started on July 1, 1863 and ended on July 3, 1863. The battle of Gettysburg lasted a small three days, but the war was perhaps one of the most deadliest wars ever fought out on American soil. Before the war of Gettysburg started, Robert E. Lee had won a tremendous battle at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in May 1863. After the battle Robert Lee had already came up with a plan to strike the North again. This time he would strike Virginia again, but this…

The Union Army entered the war with a strong advantage in artillery. It had ample manufacturing capacity in Northern factories, and it had a well-trained and professional officer corps manning that branch of the service. Brig. Gen. Henry J. Hunt, who was the chief of artillery for the Army of the Potomac for part of the war, was well recognized as a most efficient organizer of artillery forces, and he had few peers in the practice of the sciences of gunnery and logistics. Another example was…

From 1852 to 1855, Lee served as superintendent of West Point, and was therefore responsible for educating many of the men who would later serve under him - and those who would oppose him - on the battlefields of the Civil War. In 1855 he left the academy to take a position in the cavalry and in 1859 was called upon to put down abolitionist John Brown’s raid at Harpers Ferry. Because of his reputation as one of the finest officers in the United States Army, Abraham Lincoln offered Lee the…

Gettysburg Facts). Gettysburg featured numerous critical combat arms units, undoubtedly the most influential being the Field Artillery. The Artillery’s ability to delivery numerous barrages from the initial conflict, defending Little Round Top, and Pickett’s charge, not only…

at the town of Gettysburg and as the days went on the fighting got heavier and heavier and the confederates attacked the union from the left and right side. July 3rd Lee commanded less than 15,000 troops to charge the center of the enemy at Cemetery Ridge. This move was known as Pickett’s Charge it did go through the union line but the failed after a little while and cost thousands of lives on the confederate’s side. General Lee was forced to draw back his hurt army toward Virginia on the fourth…